Elsie Reynolds Celebration of Life

Welcome

On behalf of her family, sister Marjorie, brother Glen Reynolds; nieces and nephews, Carolyn (Kenneth) Morgan, Harold (Paula) McCormick, Irene McCormick, Glen (Julia) McCormick and Donna Witte; and her great-neices and nephews, thank you for sharing in the celebration of the life of Elsie May Reynolds.

Call to Worship

Jesus said:

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Believe in God, believe also in me.’

whose resurrection gives us eternal life.

Jesus said with assurance:

‘In my Father’s house, there are many dwelling places.’

Jesus promised:

Jesus promised:

‘If I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come again and will take you there myself,

so that where I am, there you may be also.’

We give thanks for the promise

that when it is time for us to leave our earthly lives,

Jesus carries us home to be with God.

Jesus said:

‘You know the way to the place where I am going,’

but Thomas had doubts:

‘Lord, we do not know where you are going.

How can we know the way?’

Jesus said to him:

‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life.’

We gather today to celebrate life and to bear witness to the resurrection of Elsie May Reynolds born June 3, 1935 to a family of 4 - her parents and brother Glen and sister Marjorie. She served Wright Griffin Davis and Co CPA’s for 35 years. Her family’s history with her church - Ypsilanti Friends Church - traces back to one of the original founders and she carried faithfully their legacy of following Jesus. What mattered to Elsie most in the many roles in which she served - treasurer, auditing team, teacher or librarian - was being a friend. She was a gift to many when taking the time to befriend others was becoming less important.

and to bear witness to the resurrection of

Judy Garascia had this to say:

Elsie was such a kind lady with a big heart sharing her passion for reading and travel with us all.

I’ll always be grateful for the time I spent with Elsie and Lelanel Malick on our trip to to Lancaster, PA.

Today we have the privilege of celebrating a life well lived.

Prayer

Scripture

1 Thessalonians 4:13–14 ESV

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

1 Thess

Psalm 23 ESV

A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Elsie was such a kind lady with a big heart. She shared her passion for reading and travel with her friends Lelanel Malick and Judy Garascia.

Open Sharing

Message: To Die is Gain

– “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

Intro.

When the Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the church at Phillipi, the circumstances of his life weren’t exactly ideal. He was in prison - under house arrest in Rome – chained to a Roman soldier as his guard. Paul was a prisoner and yet this entire letter shouts with triumph. It is filled with the words “joy” and “rejoicing”.

To those who do not believe in God – Life on earth is the best there is. For the non Christian, it is only natural to strive for the world’s values. Money – Popularity – Power – Prestige.

For the Christian it is different. – To live is Christ, “To die is gain”

To Live is Christ...

Often popular to make ourselves feel better about all the sorrows and tears that life brings by looking to what’s next -  Yes, in death and the resurrection we gain a better body, one that can never grow old, know disease, suffer pain, and can never die. We gain a better body.

2. Yes, We Gain a better home..

2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

The longing of the Apostle Paul for his home in heaven is expressed in >

“For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:”

3. Yes We Gain a better inheritance.

Our final reward is not here – it is in Heaven.

4. Yes We Gain a better fellowship.

All of us live in this world of a dissolving family circle. Mother is gone – Father is gone, or a child is gone, or our beloved grandparents are gone, or a close friend is gone. But the circle is unbroken in Heaven forever and ever. There is no death there, no sorrow or crying or pain, for these former things are passed away.

Jesus is there.

What about the time until then? To LIVE is Christ. Reason Jesus came - to make dead people live. Dead emotionally, spiritually, lacking hope, despairing…to give is NEW Life. - I have been crucified with Christ…Christ lives in me. This life I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

This life matters…does no good to sit around waiting until eternity where yes, we will gain Christ in all his fullness. 

It matters that God’s goodness and grace is not only experienced by us but bursts from us bringing a sweetness to lives broken and wounded.

Our lives speak - they are a megaphone - what are they saying? 

In our commitments?

Our relationships?

Our values?

Our Priorities?

Conversations?

How do our lives bend to the lordship of Christ, take on his character, and leave life giving hope of the savior of the world with every other life we touch?

It’s easy to talk about death. The conversation is pretty cut and dried. Life is so much more exciting.

May each of us take hold of discovering more of the richness of knowing, being loved by, loving and living in Christ with each day.

Closing

"Our Father in Heaven, in as much as you, in your sovereign love, have called Elsie to be in your presence, we are grateful for the privilege of knowing her. We thank you for the way she impacted our lives. You who have prepared a place for all who trust you, and who alone are worthy of our faith, to you we turn for continued strength, continued comfort, perspective, purpose.

Graveside

Thank you for coming to this committal service for Elsie. The passing of our loved ones and friends is always a great loss and a sad occasion. But for those who know the Lord, as Elsie did, it is a joyous occasion for them because they are now in His glorious presence. Our loss, therefore, which is their gain, can also be for us a cause of rejoicing and thankfulness in the midst of our sorrow because God has conquered death through His Son, Jesus Christ, and because of what death means to those who have placed their trust in Jesus Christ.As we face this loss and the fact of death, I would hope that we would recognize that if we are to find encouragement and comfort amidst the losses and tragedies of life, we must turn to the Bible as God’s precious Word to us. This Book, God has graciously authenticated with tremendous evidence as not merely the Word of men, but as it truly is, God’s Word to man, God-breathed and accurate, and thus our means of hope. With this in mind, let me read from a couple of beautiful passages of Scripture written for just such an occasion as this.

Scripture

In  “Jesus said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.’” Then He asked, “Do you believe this?” It is the Christian’s belief in Christ as the resurrection and the life and its validation or proof by Christ’s own resurrection from the grave that is the basis of our encouragement and so comforts our hearts as we face the loss of our loved ones and friends., “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Committal

In the light of these promises God has given us in His Word and in as much as it has pleased the Lord in His sovereign wisdom and purpose to take from our midst one whom we have loved, we now commit her body to its final resting place to await the fulfillment of another promise of Scripture. In , writing to the Thessalonians church, the Apostle Paul wrote:Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words ().These words by the Apostle were written for our encouragement in times like these. Furthermore, they are particularly significant because, when Paul penned these words, there was an inscription in the city of Thessalonica which typically illustrates the absence of hope in the world or in those who are without Jesus Christ. The inscription read: “After death no reviving; After the grave, no meeting again.”

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the glorious hope and for the great consolation concerning those who sleep in Jesus as believers in Christ. that our Lord Jesus Christ has prepared a place for those who have placed their faith in Him, and that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.